Cox Plate Tips

Each Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival the $3 million Group 1 W.S. Cox Plate (2040m) runs at Moonee Valley Racecourse and official Cox Plate tips are out as soon as the field of weight-for-age hopefuls is released on the Tuesday before the race runs in late October.

Early Cox Plate tips favour proven weight-for-age performers and classy gallopers that ran in the previous spring’s Cox Plate trifecta. All-in Cox Plate betting is often led by the reigning Cox Plate winner that the Cox Plate tips predict will go back-to-back in the ‘race where legends are made’. History shows this can be a successful way to punt with So You Think (2009-10), Northerly (2001-2002) and Sunline (1999-2000) recent Cox Plate champs to secure successive editions of the classic.

Other Cox Plate tips to consider, which we look at in more detail below, include studying the results of the traditional Cox Plate lead-up races and checking the Cox Plate odds on offer for the favourite in the field.

2016 Cox Plate Tips

The 2016 Cox Plate tips will be published right here closer to race day with the race scheduled to run on Saturday October 22, 2016.

See below for our exclusive 2016 Cox Plate Trifecta Tips and follow the link for a more facts and stats on our Cox Plate betting selections.

1st: #8 Winx (Bet on Winx now) – She is the horse everyone except the bookies want to win, and everything suggests she’ll get the job done for the punters. Money is rolling in very fast for Chris Waller’s superstar mare who won this race by nearly five lengths 12 months ago. She is into odds-on favouritism to go back-to-back in the Cox Plate and make it 13 straight wins. An eight-time Group 1 champion already, she doesn’t know how to run a bad race. From barrier three with Hugh Bowman in the saddle, she’ll be the one to hold out in the final 200m at the Valley and only bad luck will see her beat.

2nd: #3 Hartnell (Bet on Hartnell now) – If anything rolls Winx in the Cox Plate results it will be this John O’Shea-trained import, the six-year-old finally at his peak form for his fourth run against the mighty mare. She was too sharp for him first-up in Sydney’s Warwick Stakes (1400m), but he has won three times since including the impressive Turnbull Stakes victory at this distance last time out. He might be ready for more meters, but they’ll match motors late and it will be a tense affair worth tuning in for. Take Each Way just in case.

3rd: #10 Yankee Rose (Bet on Yankee Rose now) – The fillies don’t win the Cox Plate, well Surround did in 1976 but that’s it. The ones that try do finish in the money though looking at recent Cox Plate history, and this is a filly in flying form. She is a dual Group 1 winner and proven at the distance after beating home the boys in Sydney’s Spring Champion Stakes last time out. She is the 47.5kg light weight with the rails run. If she stays out of trouble around the turns and stays in touch, she can finish in the money.

Cox Plate Lead Up Races

There are a number of traditional lead-up races into the Cox Plate field each year including the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) held a fortnight earlier for three-year-old hopefuls. The last Cox Plate winning three-year-old to come off a run in that year’s Caulfield Guineas was Shamus Award (3rd in 2013) who made history as the first maiden to take out Australasia’s weight-for-age championship.

The other key Cox Plate lead-up race is the Group 1 Caulfield Stakes (2000m), a weight-for-age race contested at Caulfield Racecourse two weeks before Cox Plate Day. Previously known as the Yalumba Stakes, this race last produced a Cox Plate winner in 2012 with Ocean Park completing the double.

It’s also important to look at the international Cox Plate lead-up races for overseas-trained runners taking on the locals.